Auckland Craft Fair

The Auckland Craft Fair is coming up - 11th June - at the Aotea Centre. I'm pleased it's at the larger venue as last years one was a real squeeze - even walking around was a chore, making it hard to check out the crafty bits.

I'm super keen to go this year. Let me know if you'd like to join me, perhaps we could get a car full and have a drink/meal afterwards?

Recent pix

I haven't been posting many photos lately of the various Craft Exchange projects - so here's a bit of a catch-up showing you some of the things being made...

Ann finished the quilt she was making for her brother. She also brought along an amazing unfinished patchwork quilt that got us all excited (I have a serious case of quilt-envy). She bought it for ONE DOLLAR!! at a recent quilting fair - what a find! I wonder where all the fabric pieces came from? I love hexagon patchwork quilts, they are such a classic. It would have taken many hours to piece this together as they can only be made by hand. Ann is going to finish it off and make a border for it...

 

 

Tracey is working on a patchwork piece too. A cushion cover I think (bottom image). She has also been practicing the ancient craft of story-telling - entertaining us with funny stories of her travels around the world. Talita experimented with needlework stitched over printed fabric (below right). Natalie brought along her gorgeous old teddy, on a mission to replicate him. Thanks too for the delicious Pecan pie and chocolate brownies pieces - your hubby is not a bad cook!...

 

Hannah finished a sweet little boat-neck jersey for Charis (you'll note that she doesn't need to look when knitting)...

Jeanette, like Hannah, is a great knitter. Over the last 2 years she has made and sold 300 beanies - whoa! She finished another one while at the Craft Exchange. If anyone needs a beanie for winter let me know and I'll get Jeanette to make you one...

 

Helen converted a dress into a very cute skirt and hemmed some shorts...

Clare has nearly finished making a monkey...

Lately I've been playing around with felting and made some booties out of a wool jersey for my new niece Tui (yay!). I added some needle-felted circles... 

So come along to our next session - on the 18th of May - we'd love to see you there.

Catch up

Jeez I have a lot of catching up to do with this blog posting business. I've been slack. How these 'Mommy-bloggers' churn out blog post after blog post recording the multitude of things they've created with their four+ children, the meals they've cooked, the rooms they've done up and "oh by the way here is my latest book, you can buy it at Amazon". I suspect they have the odd parent or nanny around to ease the load. Yes I have turned an unattractive shade of green...

Anyhoo - firstly I want to post the photos we took at the school holiday appliqué class. I thought it was a great success - 2 main reasons: Thanks to the awesome kids who came along (11 of you), you guys were so into it and designed some amazing pieces. I also need to say a big thanks to Melissa and Tracey for helping Hannah and I, particularly at the start when things were kinda crazy. I learnt a lot about how to run (and not run) a craft lesson. We'd love to do another next holidays.

Apologies to those of you who didn't get a photo taken of their work. Taking photos was the last thing on my mind until the last minute - typical. So sorry to Asha, Amy, Daisy Rose and Tui. Although Tui I did take a photo of the beautiful drawing you did when designing your motif. How cute is this...

I was amazed by Luca's elaborate ninja...

Ruby is off to Paris soon so she designed an Eiffel Tower motif which, using the sewing machine, she attached to a t-shirt. Très chic..

Summer designed the cutest little dog and sewed it on with some incredible stitching...

Yasmin worked with an Easter theme and selected some beautiful vintage fabrics. She then made her piece into a cushion cover. So clever...

Tiger's design also featured a bird. I love her clouds. Tiger used the sewing machine too, to make a cushion cover...

Noah expertly drew a profile of Lion Rock and sewed it on using gold thread. The thread was quite tricky to use but it didn't seem to trouble him - his stitches were so neat...

Lauren's design had a beautiful nature theme, which featured a blooming rose and the sun. Great choice of fabrics too...

So thank you again for coming along. The afternoon was super fun. I hope you guys enjoyed it too.

Just a word about the next Craft Exchange session. It's this coming Wednesday. I'll make sure the heaters are on at Barnett! Think I need to knit a scarf.